QuoteReplyTopic: This is going to take forever... Posted: November 02 2012 at 15:06

I have been searching prog rock pretty hard lately as a recent discoverer of all the musical treasures to be found. Mostly my searching has been on Amazon looking for stuff related to stuff I have already bought or occasionally I come across a group mentioned somewhere else.

This only made me wonder how much I might be missing by not looking more thoroughly. I decided to start going through the list of artists at the Prog Archives web site alphabetically. Mostly I'll check for stuff that I can preview enough and is not too hard or expensive to buy, I just don't have the money to drop on imported music.

I figured this would take me awhile but the task is looking to take even longer now. I started in the A's and I didn't make it down three names before I came across a group I liked the sound of so much I bought something by them off Amazon (A Headfull of Monsters...and I really like it). Then I had to stop and listen to what I bought...twice. Yeah, this is gonna take awhile.

I suppose this means that I will be continuously coming across new music I like for a long time. I will go through that whole list name by name, mercifully I know what I like or don't like pretty quickly when I listen to it so there won't be too much deliberating whether or not I will buy something by whatever artist I am checking out and the moment.

Have you considered making a rateyourmusic account? The reason I suggest this is because it has some interesting features once you have gone through your own collection and rated music - it is able to analyze the way you have rated things and compare them to what other people have rated and come up with common points so that it can give recommendations.

I am not doing my search in such an orderly fashion, and still I feel it's taking forever. Still, being prog, I wouldn't be so sure about knowing what I would like at first listen. However, sometimes it's necessary, otherwise it would take even longer.

I would recommend going through each PA subgenre and checking out the top 5 or 10 albums first. That way, you will get a good overview of prog without it taking years and years just to get to Genesis! After that, you can further explore the bands and subgenres that fit your taste and dig deeper into each of them. Just a suggestion.

I would recommend going through each PA subgenre and checking out the top 5 or 10 albums first. That way, you will get a good overview of prog without it taking years and years just to get to Genesis! After that, you can further explore the bands and subgenres that fit your taste and dig deeper into each of them. Just a suggestion.

I would second this. This website went through alot of trouble to make it easier for you. If you take each sub genre at a time you will develop an ear for the different styles and find what you like, and you will get to know the important musicians in each style, which will in turn lead you to other projects that they worked on (and more new music).

I've had plenty cross my path randomly already. Going alphabetically will be no less random and surprising for me because I each name will be just that to me: a name to be explored. It may be systematic Won't take quite as long as forever; I skip plenty of them because there are no previews ior the only stuff available is very expensive imports. Stuff to come back to someday when I have more disposable income. I'm also skipping stuff I am already familiar with. I would say I am looking more for the stuff I have not heard of yet. A good example of this is the first thing I came across I liked when going through the A's, A Headfull of Monsters. No videos on youtube, never heard them popup on any prog rock stations, not much material out and it nevre showed up in any of Amazon's "related: sections in the MP3 store although it should have. I'm not sure how else I would have come across this group other than the way I did. Their debut is pretty good though, right up my listening alley.

But I'm committed and I know I'll be continuing to enjoy the prog world for a long time to come. I've barely gotten started on the list and already found some good stuff, that can only bode well hehe. And I've already come across enough prog bands I LOVE whose back catalogues I have to work through.

^ You got into several prog classics - you got into prog. Case closed. And, so as to deviate from the aforementioned systematic searching method, ... just dig into random stuff, independent of the alphabet or whatnot.

"People tell you life is short. ... No, it's not. Life is long. Especially if you make the wrong decisions." - Chris Rock

Still going to start by going alphbetically for now; I have no problem with it and it will be an adventure for sure. It's not that I think it is daunting or anything like that, it's more awe-inspiring and mind boggling considering the vast amount out there based on the list alone hehe.

There's something kind of funny/cool about the idea of a music collection consisting of 100 CDs all beginning with the letters A-C. You may be on to something with this concept. The beauty of randomness. It seems orderly on the surface, but it really isn't -- because there's no correlation between a band's position in the alphabet and what they sound like, their relative quality, or even what genre they're in.

Edited by HolyMoly - November 02 2012 at 17:32

My other avatar is a Porsche

It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased.

I could never explore alphabetically like this. I guess I'm too OCD for this, but the thought of a music collection that's skewed heavily towards the first few letters of the alphabet seems really odd to me. I'm sometimes a bit obsessed with alphabetical symmetry. Personally, I'm not even through the "big names" yet (currently exploring Camel), but if I ever run out of stuff to listen to, I'll just go through the top 100 list.

But hey, whatever works for you! I'm sure you will find just as much great music this way than with any other method.

Any approach, systematic or otherwise, taken to absolute completion will never end, given that this is a living genre and new artists and albums are coming out all the time. I myself take a semi-systematic approach at times, but usually it is pretty random. The important thing is to have a clear idea of what you like while also being open to new artists, styles, and sub-genres.

The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty"

I sympathize, it's amazing that such an 'underground' form has so much stuff and every time I think we've archived anything worth archiving, there's always another band that wasn't even noticed for a long time. The CD revolution was a big part of it as old obscure stuff suddenly started flowing out from anyone who had rights to release it, which was a huge boon to collectors. Sometimes it feels as if Prog actually has more bands in its history than Punk though you'd never know it. It is a seemingly endless journey, maddening and marvelous. Best to you in your trek.

I just stumble across albums and read lots of reviews here. I dont bother systemising a search for prog but if I like a bands album I am likely to go hunting for all their albums and listen to them one by one and review each. After that I move to the home page at Progarchives and read latest reviews and anything jumps out and bites me i search for it either on itunes, yt, or spotify. I listen before I buy normally, If I like it I buy it of course.

I do check the top albums per year and try to review all those but of course its a lost cause but at least I make myself aware of what proggers are hailing as treasures.

I will check the PA top 100 and try to review all those albums - it seems to be easy enough as all of the albums are gems.

My CD collection is enormous now since finding this site and I blame it on PA but its an obsession I have enjoyed like all obsessions. I used to collect sci fi film and TV merchandise and now I switched to prog. its actually cheaper and you can get more of it

I did make a blog here to attempt to discover more prog by conducting polls of best rated prog albums per year and came up with a pretty comprehensive list that helped

Of course its not complete nor could it be but it took many months and I have no hope of finalising it as the ratings change often as more people rate them here.

I also made a list of the top 1000 prog albums looking at each per year and had to change the list when I finally got round to adding reviews from the proggers here and it took years and still not finished. Its a mammoth undertaking but I am pleased I had an attempt and learn about prog in a more deeper sense and discovered more great music.

the list is here but its massive so its intimidating but there you go - they are the top rated album over the 46 years of prog thus far.... still working on it....

Still going to start by going alphbetically for now; I have no problem with it and it will be an adventure for sure. It's not that I think it is daunting or anything like that, it's more awe-inspiring and mind boggling considering the vast amount out there based on the list alone hehe.

I would recommend going through each PA subgenre and checking out the top 5 or 10 albums first. That way, you will get a good overview of prog without it taking years and years just to get to Genesis! After that, you can further explore the bands and subgenres that fit your taste and dig deeper into each of them. Just a suggestion.

I would second this. This website went through alot of trouble to make it easier for you. If you take each sub genre at a time you will develop an ear for the different styles and find what you like, and you will get to know the important musicians in each style, which will in turn lead you to other projects that they worked on (and more new music).

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